


it's my right to be hellish

by asymptotes



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Angst, Charlie has never done a thing wrong in his life, Dee Day, M/M, Mac's Banging The Waitress, Recreational Drug Use, Season/Series 14 Spoilers, canon-typical toxicness, secrets don't make friends, tw: discussion of coercion, way too much discussion of kissing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:54:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21647887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asymptotes/pseuds/asymptotes
Summary: A week later, Mac still cannot believe that Dennis kissed Charlie. He decides to confront him about it.
Relationships: Mac McDonald/Dennis Reynolds, discussion of charmac and charden
Comments: 13
Kudos: 62





	1. Chapter 1

One Sunday morning, about a week after the waking nightmare that was Dee Day, Mac and Dennis are sitting at their kitchen table, sharing tea after breakfast. 

Mac is quiet, way quieter than usual. Dennis is recounting his experience of last night at the local Wawa and the infuriating cashier, but halfway through his story, he realizes that Mac isn’t really listening. He’s staring off into the living room, with his chin cupped in one hand, the other playing absently with the tag on his tea bag. 

Dennis shifts to sit more upright in his seat. It wasn’t often that he had to ask for Mac’s attention. He gently puts his hand on Mac’s, stilling his fidgeting. 

“What’s going on Mac? You seem to be a little in your thoughts there,” he asks.

Mac looks hurt and a little shaken. He turns to look Dennis right in the eye.

“You really wanna know?”

“Yeah man, I wouldn’t ask you what’s going on if I didn’t want to know,” Dennis replies easily.

Mac sighs and pulls his hand from under Dennis', bringing it up to cup the other side of his face. 

“I…I just still can’t believe you actually kissed Charlie.”

Dennis shifts in his chair, taken aback.

“Mac,” Dennis sweetens the tone of his voice because he really wasn’t up for an argument with his roommate right now, so early in the morning. “Mac, you realize that Dee made us do that right? Like, it wasn’t my idea.” 

“Yeah, but you could’ve said no. Both of you, you guys could’ve refused.” Mac retorts, and his tone is indignant. Dennis bristles.

“And get the horn? You think I wanted to hear that airhorn? The sound it makes is triggering as shit.” 

Mac shakes his head and glances down into his mug of tea.

“You don’t want to hear the airhorn, so you just make out with our best friend.”

Dennis frowns. “Make out? Who said anything about making out?” He sniffs, bringing his own tea mug back up to his face. “It was a chaste kiss.”

Mac huffs out a humourless laugh. “Bullshit.”

Dennis sets his mug onto the table carefully. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Mac doesn’t like getting angry. He’s proud of himself for who he’s becoming, how he chooses to act. But this, Dennis acting coy about something he knows he cares about is just too much.

“I guess you haven’t noticed since you’ve been back, because you’re so into yourself, but Dee and I actually talk now. We talk when you aren’t around.”

Dennis raises his eyebrows, giving Mac a once-over. “Go on,” he says. 

“Well I asked her, and she told me. You guys shocked even her, it wasn’t a ‘chaste kiss’. She said it went on for like, at least eight seconds.” Mac looks at Dennis with an accusatory glint in his eye. 

Dennis feels his cheeks getting warm. He places both hands on the table, gripping its side. 

“That was her direction, Mac. She said to kiss like we were falling in love. Didn’t she tell you that?”

Mac shakes his head no, and his eyes flicker back to their table, still too embarrassed by his outburst to meet Dennis' eyes. 

It’s funny, Dennis thinks. Mac had truly seen him at his worst that day - in a costume red wig, then later without his any of his make-up or hair product. The most unflattering he thinks he’s ever looked, but all Mac cared to remember of the day is the one thing he hadn’t seen. 

Then Dennis realizes, still, why did he need to defend or explain himself? Why did he have to explain why he does what he does to _Mac_ , who leaves their apartment without him at least once a week, for hours at a time, offering little to no explanation? Dennis didn’t question him about that. 

“So you see, it’s really not that big of a deal as you’re making it out to be. Plus, haven’t _you_ kissed Charlie before?” Dennis asks, a smirk playing on his lips.

“Uh, no.” Mac replies, looking anywhere in the kitchen but Dennis’ inquiring eyes. “Where would you get that idea?” 

_What a hypocrite._ Dennis straightens up in his chair. Mac looked like such a child when he lied. 

“You don’t have to lie, Mac, I know you guys grew up together and had a lot of time together before you met me. You two have kissed before, haven’t you?” 

Dennis doesn’t know anything for sure, but he has a hunch.

Mac rolls his eyes and looks down at the table. “Okay, yeah maybe once or twice before Saint Joe’s, but we were just kids! It’s different.”

“Oh,” Dennis says. 

There’s a reason there was a saying: don't ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to. Even though Dennis asked, expecting to be right, Mac's admission makes him angry inside. Suddenly, instead of placating him, Dennis wants Mac to be angry too.

“See, that’s totally fine,” he continues coolly. “Now that we’re being open about things, remember that day Charlie and I were trying to catch you and The Waitress in the act?”

“Uh, yeah,” Mac replies petulantly, complete with an eye roll. How could he forget the hot feeling of embarrassment at Dennis overhearing him speak about his thighs, or forget the sight of his two friends smushed against each other in Charlie’s bed? He frowns, eyebrows furrowing. “Why do you ask?”

Dennis smiles a tight smile that betrays himself. “Well, to be honest, that day Charlie and I kissed too. It was very brief, but goodness, you and The Waitress took forever to- ”

Mac’s eyes go comically wide before narrowing into tiny slits. He stands up from the table abruptly, jolting their tea cups as he rises. 

“Oh this is great! That’s just perfect. I’m the one that’s gay, but you and Charlie have been having a gay love affair behind my back this entire time!”

“That’s not entirely true, Mac,” is all Dennis has the emotional capacity to reply. 

“Whatever, dude, I’m done with this conversation. I’m going to the gym.” 

Mac storms into his room, leaving the door ajar as he yanks his gym bag out from under the bed. He moves quickly, stuffing a sleeveless tee and gym shorts from his dresser into the bag. He marches out of the room, straight to the kitchen cabinet where he grabs his reusable water bottle from one of the shelves. 

“Oh, walk away,” Dennis cries. “Just walk away.” 

Mac is at the door now, kneeling to grab his sneakers from the ground. 

“We’re both in the same boat here! So, we’ve both kissed our dear friend Charlie a couple times, God help us-“ 

Mac zips up his gym bag resolutely before hanging his head. He pauses for a moment and looks up, finally meeting Dennis’s pleading gaze. 

“If some kissing between friends is no big deal, then why won’t you kiss me?” 

The question is out of Mac’s mouth before he can stop it from escaping. He finds that his chest feels heavy with rejection. Dennis stands up from the table, a nervous smile pulling at the corner of his lips.

“Because, Mac, can’t you see? We are not ‘just friends’!" 

Last year, hearing those words from Dennis’s mouth would’ve been more than enough for Mac. They would’ve meant the world. But now in this moment, they just sound empty. They sound like a mean taunt. 

He turns and leaves the apartment, pulling the door shut with a snap. He leaves Dennis to finish his tea, and put away their mugs and start his day properly, alone.


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie performs emotional labour for Mac before noon.

Mac doesn’t make it to the gym. He doesn’t want to workout without having his protein shake beforehand and he knows that if he actually got to the gym, he wouldn’t give his workout the attention it deserves. So he walks the streets aimlessly and deep in thought, until he finds that he’s at the foot of Charlie and Frank’s building. He isn’t mad at Charlie, he could never not love Charlie, he just wanted to speak with him, is all.

[downwards arrow emoji]+[apartment building emoji]+[upwards arrow emoji]+? (I’m downstairs, can I come up?) 

[thumbs up emoji] 

When Mac gets to the door of Charlie and Frank’s apartment, he finds it unlocked. “Charlie?”

“I’m right here Mac, come on in.”

Mac steps inside and drops his gym bag to the floor. Now that he’s stopped moving, he realizes that he’s close to hyperventilating from his walk over. 

“Good morning,” he breathes. “Um, where’s Frank?”

Charlie is still in his long johns and the oversized t-shirt that he liked to sleep in. He sits down at one end of the couch and throws his socked feet up onto the coffee table. “He spent the night at the Hyatt with one of his girlfriends.”

Mac pulls a disgusted face. “Ew.” 

“Yeah, I know. Now, I assume you’re here to talk about Dennis, right?” 

Mac sits down at the other end of the couch. “Why do you assume that?”

Charlie has piercing blue eyes, the kind of eyes that can say a thousand words with a single look. He gives Mac one of these looks now. 

“Mac, I know you. Why else would you come over here? Cut the crap and tell me what the problem is. You guys had another fight?”

Mac was grateful for Charlie and how perceptive he was, but the way he had him pegged was just embarrassing.

“He uh, he let me know that you two kissed before Dee’s day,” Mac says, looking down at the coffee table. “On purpose,” he adds. 

“That bastard,” Charlie spits out. “That was literally ten years ago and it never fucking happened again!” 

Mac fiddles with a spare thread on his pants.

“Did you want it to? Happen again, I mean,” he asks. 

Charlie fixes Mac with an incredulous look and laughs.

“You don’t think that I actually want him, or worse, that he wants me? Do you?" Charlie exclaims. "What’s going on, man? What the hell happened, dude?”

Mac takes a deep breath. “I um, kind of gave him shit about kissing you in Dee’s stupid play, and then he got pissed and reminded me that it was Dee’s doing, then he asked me if _we’ve_ kissed before, which I admitted to, and then he told me that you guys kissed, so I left. And…now I’m here I guess.”

Charlie shakes his head and his eyes are wide with disbelief. 

“You guys are both terrible. You both out me to each other to- to what? Get one over on each other?”

Mac winces at Charlie’s tone, which was rapidly approaching shrill.

“Next time you two have a little domestic, how about you guys just leave me out of it, okay? I’m not a bargaining chip, I’m a person!” 

“I’m sorry, Charlie, I-” 

“You know he probably told you that just to make you upset right? And it worked perfectly, because here you are, interrogating _me_!”

“But why would he want me to get upset?” Mac frowns at the thought.

Charlie exhales a sigh that sounds a lot more like a groan. “Probably because you reminded him that we’ve always been closer friends. You know how he gets about dominance and superiority and all of that shit.”

Mac cradles his face in his palms, closing his eyes tightly. Charlie was right.

“Shit, I’m sorry, dude. It wasn’t my place to tell and-"

Charlie shakes his head and holds up a hand.

“I forgive you. I know the kind of power he has over you, and I don’t appreciate it! I’ve told you that before already.”

Mac doesn’t respond. He lets his eyes roam around the mess that was Charlie’s place. He remembers bemoaning the state of it when he had come over to live after he and Dennis had that one big fight. _How long_ , he wonders, _how long have we been fighting?_

“Dennis said that he wouldn’t kiss me because we’re more than just friends. That doesn’t make sense to me. Does that make any sense to you?” 

“He actually said that?” Charlie asks, his eyebrows shooting up towards his hairline. Mac nods. “Wow.”

“Yeah.”

Charlie stands up and stretches lazily with a yawn, palms reaching up towards the ceiling. Mac feels a tiny pang of guilt for disturbing his friends morning. 

“The thing is Mac, you have to give him a little space. Everyone was very patient with you.”

“Uh, I don’t think everyone telling me to come out every five minutes was patient.” 

Charlie looks at him and his eyes shine with a tinge of pity.

“Well, reminding Dennis that you want him every five minutes isn’t exactly patient either. You get what I’m saying?” 

Mac doesn’t want to ask for advice from Charlie, but he has to swallow his pride here. He’s the one who’d shown up at his place unprompted, like this was a major emergency. Maybe it is. It certainly felt that way to him. 

“So…what do I do?”

Charlie scratches through his beard for a few moments, considering the question.

“Dennis is just like a cat. You can’t show it that you love it too much, or it’ll be repelled by you. Just show that you’re willing to care for it, feed it, protect it - at a distance, and it’ll be your best friend. Or in your case, um, life partner.” 

Mac takes this in. “You think it’s that simple?” 

Charlie shrugs. “I’m not going to put any words in his mouth, but he didn’t come back to Philadelphia to live with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided to continue the story! Isn't Charlie such a great friend?


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dennis makes his way to Paddy's alone.

Dennis resists the urge to fling Mac’s teacup at the wall after he’d slammed the door to their apartment shut. He doesn’t really feel like cleaning up what would be the resulting mess and alternatively, he didn’t want Mac to return home and see the evidence of his upset if he makes the snap decision to not to clean the mess up out of spite. 

He understands Mac’s jealousy, understands why Mac might feel a little slighted at not getting the chance to kiss him under the guise of being prodded into it by Dee, but it wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that Mac got to come out and know that behind every quirk of his best friend’s lips, every smile that they shared together, that they were more alike than different. Dennis had felt his control over the longstanding situation slip away the moment Mac had finally stepped into his own truth.

He sighs and dutifully rinses both of their mugs in the sink, then adds them to the drying rack on the counter. He didn’t mean to make Mac upset - (well he had, in the moment) but the aftermath of Mac’s anger isn’t something he wants to deal with. He doesn’t want to remember the way Mac’s face crumpled after asking why they couldn’t kiss.

He doesn’t want to admit that kissing Mac would mean giving himself over to a tidal wave that was much bigger than himself. So he goes on with his morning routine stoically, as if Mac had left for the gym on his own volition, not because Dennis had pushed him away the only way he knew how, through conflict and deflection. 

He trades his sweatpants and loose tee for jeans and a soft black sweater that he thinks he looks positively devastating in. Well, as devastating as he can manage. He drives to Paddy’s alone, taking a less direct route so he can brood and listen to his music mix a little bit longer. Dennis tries not to imagine Mac lifting weights at the gym with a pout on his face, sweat gathering at his temples, frowning as he pushes himself to do just one more set of bicep curls.

 _I’m going to have to stop pushing Mac away at some point_ , Dennis thinks. 

He’ll have to give him something before one day, a beefcake walks up to Mac while he’s doing his reps and tells him everything that he deserves to hear - _You look great, Awesome bi’s, Wow has anyone told you that you have a beautiful smile?_ and means it unselfishly. 

_Next time we talk, I’ll ask him if he wants to work out together_ , Dennis reasons. They could play some basketball, or even just jog around their neighbourhood in the mornings. It could be nice. 

He spends more time on his drive to Paddy’s than he was planning, and by the time he gets there, it’s past half past noon. 

*

“What’s up boner,” Dee quips from behind the bar. “Where’s your boyfriend?”

“Where’s yours?” Dennis retorts. 

He smirks at Dee’s hurt and regretful expression. He knows that his question would get under her skin more than hers ever could. 

“Deandra, leave your brother alone. Look at him - he looks like shit.” Frank turns to Dennis, holds up a ziploc bag of white powder and a short straw. “Want a bump, kid?” 

“Jesus, Frank, it’s Sunday. Have you no shame?” Dennis asks, as an affront more than anything else.

Dee scoffs. “Since when do you care about Holy Sunday? Or shame? I guess is Mac really is rubbing off on you.” 

Dennis purses his lips and sits next to his not-father at the bar. He takes the straw and the bag from him and makes quick work of making a line for himself. 

_This is my life now_ , he thinks as the cocaine races up his nose and fills his head with icy, brimming sharpness. Vices filling in the spaces where routine and self-restraint, and healthy shame should be. 

This has been his life for a long time.

*

Mac and Charlie stumble through the front door giggling, more than an hour later, bringing in a familiar scent with them. 

“God, you guys reek of pot,” Dee grumbles in greeting. 

“Don’t be jealous, Dee.” Mac laughs. “It’s not a good look on you.”

Charlie cackles, puts his hands on his knees and genuinely belly laughs as if Mac’s words are the funniest thing he’s heard in his life. Dennis sniffles and steps down from his bar stool.

“Mac, can I talk to you in the back office for a quick second?”

It’s more than Dennis was expecting to give and he hopes Mac can see that. Mac’s brown eyes are slightly glazed from the weed and he looks impossibly relaxed. He frowns at the question, before following Dennis past the bar. 

Mac shuts the door behind him and raises his eyebrows, meeting Dennis’ eyes expectantly. As Dennis opens his mouth to speak, he turns around quickly and grabs the door knob.

“What the hell are you doing?” 

Mac turns back around, chuckling. “You said a quick second. Time’s up.” 

“Come on, man.” Dennis laughs, surprised at Mac’s teasing.

Mac leans back against the office door and looks down at his boots. The side of his mouth twitches like he wants to say something, but he stays silent. Dennis sighs, and sits backwards onto the edge of the desk. 

He waits, hoping that Mac will say something, anything. Anything to make this any easier, but he doesn’t. Dennis sighs, runs a hand through his hair. 

“Mac, look. I just wanted to say...I’m sorry.”

The raven-haired man lifts his head and raises his chin, untrusting. 

“Sorry? Sorry about what?” 

“About messing this morning up,” Dennis offers. “It wasn’t supposed to go that way.”

Mac lowers his chin and quirks an eyebrow upwards. “Really? How was it ‘supposed’ to go?” 

“We were supposed to finish our tea and watch Netflix together on the couch before getting ready and coming here, like we do every morning.”

Mac nods, as if this tells him everything he needs to know. For a nice moment, Dennis thinks he’s in the clear.

“Did you really mean it? When you said we’re more than just friends?” 

Dennis' breath hitches in his throat. He should’ve known better. He shouldn’t have done that line, and the one after.

“Well, we’ve already long agreed that we’re blood brothers, partners in real estate, partners in life.” Dennis smiles.

Mac crosses his arms. “Come on Den, be serious.” 

Dennis groans. “Mac, I…I care a lot about you. You should know that by now.”

Mac shrugs. “You have a funny way of showing it.”

Dennis shrugs in return. “What can I say, I’m a funny guy.”

Mac nods. “Vindictive, too.”

Dennis frowns, looking Mac’s form over. “You didn’t end up going to the gym, did you?” 

“Nope, I went over to Charlie’s and we hit his bong for a while.” Mac uncrosses his arms and scratches the back of his neck. 

“Yeah, and spoke about me,” Dennis counters. It’s not a question.

Mac steps forward from the door, right into Dennis’ bubble of space. He looks down into his blue eyes, savouring a rare moment where he’s the taller one. Dennis blinks, tries and fails to ignore how his breath quickens at their newfound proximity. 

“Isn’t that what you want?” 

Before Dennis can open his mouth to reply, the back office door springs open with a whoosh. 

“Get out here assholes, you’re gonna want to see this!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating has gone up to Mature because of the drug use and future chapters!


	4. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie takes no shit and Dennis constructs an intricate ritual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter contains Dennis' disordered view of health and fitness, be responsibly healthy, everyone!

The interruption that was so pressing that it necessitated Dee whipping the back office door wide open (when Dennis and Mac were clearly having a moment in private) was the breaking news that ordinance LC-103 for the legalization of public urination had been summarily repealed by a vote of 7-2 in local government. 

“Multiple cases of indecent exposure occurring at various locations in the downtown Philadelphia area since the signing of the controversial bill prompted the District 12 City Council to reverse the controversial law - at the behest of local concerned parents and guardians,” intones a slightly perturbed Jackie Denardo from the old television set. 

“Well, shit.” Mac says.

“We didn’t even get a month!” Charlie groans. 

Frank grumbles: “Too many goddamned perverts in this city.” 

“That’s just great,” Dennis interjects, feeling color rise to his cheeks.

Every single thing about Dee Day was a total goddamned bust. A complete disaster. 

“What do you think about this, Dee?”

“I don’t give a shit, Dennis. My bladder is getting weaker by the day! I still reserve the right to pop a squat and have a squirt in public if I need to. I’d like to see them try to arrest me.” 

Dee puffs out her chest at the thought. 

The four guys shrug in response, in unison, defeated. 

*

Just like that, everything goes back to normal; or whatever normal meant for Paddy’s, not before Charlie corners Dennis when he’s checking inventory in the cold locker near the end of the night. 

“Hey, man,” Charlie starts, scratching at the back of his neck. Dennis fights the urge to roll his eyes. 

“Yes, Charlie?”

Charlie shifts his weight from one foot to the other, but meets Dennis’ eyes. 

“Is there something you wanna say to me?”

Dennis crosses his arms and frowns. 

“Why do you think I would have anything to say to you? And what about, exactly?”

“I dunno,” Charlie raises and lowers his shoulders. ”I’m just getting the vibe that you want to say something.”

“A vibe.” Dennis intones.

“Yes, yep,” Charlie nods, not backing down.

Dennis narrows his eyes and decides to get this conversation over with as soon as possible. He quickly brushes out of the locker past his friend, turning to speak to him from over his shoulder.

“Stop talking about me to Mac behind my back, Charlie.”

Charlie stands in the same spot, blue eyes wild and burning, and he makes a noise of disbelief. 

“Well, maybe if you stopped jerking him around all the time, he wouldn’t need to come to me for advice about how to deal with you!” 

Dennis halts in his tracks and turns back around.

“Advice? Mac’s coming to you for advice about me?” He opens his arms to Charlie, hoping his friend would forget how rude and dismissive he’d been just a moment ago. 

“What else has he said?” 

Charlie chuckles and shakes his head. 

“Now, this is the part where I leave, because I don’t give a shit about your problems.”

Dennis stamps his foot. “Just tell me what he’s said, Charlie! Charlie!” 

But Charlie is already out the door after giving a quick parting mock salute. 

If Dennis wanted answers, he would have to get them directly from the source. 

*

Dennis regains what he had left of the upper-hand in his relationship with Mac by being his regular, unapologetically callous self. It was just how he liked it to be; himself, aloof, detached and unemotional, which resulted in Mac being clingy and overbearingly attentive. Just because he’d admitted to Mac that he cared about him a lot, didn’t mean that anything had to change. And whatever advice Mac had gotten from Charlie, he seemed not to be implementing, because Dennis is as unaffected by Mac’s efforts as ever. 

Yes, everything is as it should be. Mac is still trying to get Dennis’ approval and appreciation, doting and fussing over him whenever they were alone in their apartment together. On one of these choice afternoons before they leave for the bar, a couple weeks later, they’re both enjoying each others company on the couch when Dennis asks: 

“Hey, wanna go on a morning jog with me tomorrow?”

Mac lifts the remote and pauses the show they were watching and turns to Dennis, raising his eyebrows in surprise. “A jog? Me and you? In the morning?” 

“Yes, Mac. Cardio is one of the best ways to encourage fat loss and weight management in the body and jogging is one of the most efficient ways to do cardio! Will you join me, or not?”

Mac frowns, considering Dennis’ words for a moment. 

“Of course I’ll join you, because you’re asking, but just as a heads up Den, I don’t really _do_ cardio.”

Dennis slumps back into the leather upholstery. 

“You don’t “do” cardio? How the hell did you lose all of that weight then? You’re almost as tiny as me!” 

“Wh-wh-wh- tiny?” Mac balks. “Tiny?!”

“You look like you do cardio daily, Mac! Every single day.”

“Well, thank you, but I didn’t lose weight, Dennis. I turned all the mass I cultivated into cold, hard, muscle! See?”

Mac lifts the hem of his shirt with one hand, proudly exposing the cut line of his toned hip. Dennis blinks once, does his best not to stare at the tan sliver of skin for too long. He shrugs.

“Whatever you say, Mac. Are you joining me tomorrow morning or not?”

Mac nods, past indignity forgotten. “Yeah, yeah, sure, I said I would.” 

*

The next morning, when they return from their short jog, Dennis feels pretty good. He’s slightly winded, because Mac had insisted they take the two flights of stairs up to their apartment to ‘tie the workout together’. The suggestion had done nothing to affect Mac’s breathing, in fact Mac appeared to be mostly unaffected by the effort, except for a sheen of sweat gathering at his temples. He drops down onto the couch, and grabs for the remote.

“You wanna watch something?”

Dennis wrinkles his nose. “Nah, I’m gonna take a shower. I feel disgusting when I’m sweaty.”

Mac looks up at him from the couch, an easy smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

“Okay, I’ll be here.”

“Sure.”

* 

Dennis lays back onto his bed after his shower, staring up at the ceiling. He doesn’t know how people manage to workout and exert themselves like this almost everyday. He shifts uncomfortably on the mattress, wincing at the sensation of tightness in his shoulders and chest. This is why he prefers to restrict; to consume as little as possible, as healthy as possible. He couldn’t be doing this everyday. 

“Mac?” Dennis calls from the same position on his bed. He quirks an eyebrow upward at the silence. 

“Yeah, Dennis?” Mac replies after a long moment.

“Can you come in here, please?” Dennis cringes at the tone of his voice. He couldn’t sound more needy if he tried. 

Mac appears at the doorway with a sheepish expression on his face, his hair dripping wet.

“Oh, you took a shower too?”

“Yeah,” Mac replies.

“So _that’s_ why my hot water got cold towards the end.” 

Mac clenches his jaw. “Shit, sorry dude.” 

“It’s fine. Not a big deal. Thanks for joining me on the jog.” Dennis sits up and against the headboard of the bed, rubbing at his left shoulder.

Mac frowns at Dennis’ words, like he’s trying to understand what he’s saying. He pauses for a moment before speaking. 

“Um, no problem. Why’d you call me here, Dennis?”

Dennis is still rubbing at his shoulder when Mac asks the question. He stretches his neck, slowly leaning his head from side to side, questions Mac’s shy tone, and his own motives. He resolves to be direct. 

“I was wondering if you could...help me? My upper body is super sore. I think I might feel it for days if I don’t do something about it now.”

Mac’s eyes light up with surprise and something else that Dennis can’t quite place. He’s not sure if it should concern him that he can’t tell what Mac is thinking. 

“Okay,” Mac accepts, still hovering at the door. A small smile tugs at his lips. “What do you want me to do? About that.”

Dennis sighs and flops back onto the bed. “I want you to come in here and stop hovering by the door like a child!”

Mac steps into the bedroom, one step, then another and he’s no longer leaning against the doorframe for support. 

“Now what?” 

“Jesus Christ, Mac. Come here!” Dennis gestures at the space on the bed beside him. 

Mac follows the instruction and joins Dennis on the bed, high up near the pillows. He looks nervous and uncertain and Dennis is glad that he can read the expression on his face now. It had been scary when he couldn’t. Mac’s eyes are on everything in the room but Dennis, flickering from the foot of the bed, to the doorway, then to the floor. 

“I need you to massage me.” Dennis says simply, like he’s said the words on many occasions before. He hasn’t.

“What?” 

Dennis rolls his eyes. “I need you, Mac, to massage my upper body before my muscles seize up, debilitating me permanently, or worse, I decide that exercise isn’t worth it anymore and I cut down my calorie intake to accommodate for that.”

Mac’s eyes widen in alarm at this. 

“No way, you already don’t eat enough as it is! I’ll loosen up those muscles, Den, all you had to do was ask." 

“I just did,” Dennis pouts. 

“Well, okay,” Mac exhales, and he smiles again, wider this time. “Where do I start?”

**Author's Note:**

> all story idea credit goes to ao3 user symbionic! 
> 
> Title is from Jealous - Nick Jonas


End file.
